While the disposal of solid waste materials has posed a general problem which continues to increase with the population density, the problem has become acute for grocery stores and other commercial establishments which handle a large volume of boxes and containers on a daily basis. For example, a typical supermarket unpacks and must dispose of two to five thousand cartons usually composed of cardboard material, each working day. Initially, the weight, which approximates 1 to 3 tons, presents some problem, but more significantly, the space or volume occupied by such quantities of lightweight material renders the handling and disposal extremely troublesome. Furthermore, while the cardboard material can be compacted with the conventionally employed mechanisms on present-day garbage or disposal trucks, cardboard material does have an elastic memory and when discharged at the dump, its volume remains large and must be left in this form in many dumping areas resultant from the restrictions on burning because of air pollution. It will be apparent that the handling and disposal of the waste materials in such supermarkets not only are troublesome and time-consuming but as a direct result provide a significant economic problem.